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This book is an overview and analysis of the global tradition of the outlaw hero. The mythology and history of the outlaw hero is traced from the Roman Empire to the present, showing how both real and mythic figures have influenced social, political, economic and cultural outcomes in many times and places. The book also looks at the contemporary continuations of the outlaw hero mythology, not only in popular culture and everyday life, but also in the current outbreak of global terrorism.
‘Folklorist Seal examines the durability of the outlaw as hero in the imaginations of the disenfranchised. [...] Particularly valuable is the book’s final half, where Seal crafts a structural analysis outlining the cycle by which social and cultural circumstances transform the bandit into outlaw hero. Recommended.’ —M. L. Murray, Kean University, ‘Choice’
‘Generous and powerful…a fine and world-ranging survey, and a study presented with a compassionate identification and with a pleasing wit. It is, quite simply, Australia’s finest national and comparative volume in the global scholarship of the folkloric discipline… A rich, reflective and highly researched compilation, one which will certainly stand as a bold reference work… it will stand on the shelf alongside the other world classics’ —J. S. Ryan ‘Australian Folklore’
Graham Seal is Professor of Folklore and Director of the Australia-Asia-Pacific Institute at Curtin University, Australia. He has a distinguished national profile as a founder of folklore studies in Australia, and is also a leading and widely cited international authority on the cultural traditions of the hero.
Preface; 1. Introduction: The Outlawed Hero; Part One: Myths and Histories; 2. Before Robin Hood; 3. Heroic Types; 4. Medieval Marauders; 5. Myth and History; Part Two: Politics and Identities; 6. Contested Frontiers; 7. Troubled Borders; 8. Identities; 9. Kingdoms in Miniature; Part Three: Legends and Commodities; 10. Afterlives; 11. Consuming Outlaws; 12. Lethal Legends; Part Four: The Global Outlaw; 13. The Robin Hood Principle; 14. The Common Good; Notes; Select Bibliography; Index